Dueling Weaponized
by auroraminamino
Summary: And now for something different! Summary inside!


_Atem, the formally nameless Pharaoh, Dark Magician, Mana and many others get stuck in Death City and don't know how to get home to their respective spirit worlds. So Soul, his team and others make friends with them and decide to help them out. Not to mention have some fun too. As if that's not enough Asura wasn't as defeated as was originally thought. What will the team do?_

 **Dueling Weaponized**

Everyone in Death City was breathing easier, the Keshin was gone as were the evil witch sisters. The Keshin had gotten one, Maka the other. Also that little girl that Medusa had possessed had been returned home safely by the female Death Scythes. A happy ending on around! So then why was Spirit running to the freshly repaired Death Room with a report for Lord Death that an intruder had been seen in the city?! He couldn't help but ask himself this question as he finally arrived at his destination once inside he could hear the Grim Reaper singing to himself for reasons only known to him. The only lines here heard clearly was 'I want to be!' as his own harsh breathing blocked the rest. He turned when he saw Spirit leaning on the last guillotine before the platform and pulled out the earphones he had been listening to.

He of course quickly recognize them: "Justins earphones? Why would you have those?" He then thought to himself "Its Lord Death don't question it." in a somewhat amusing way.

The Grim Reaper hid them behind his back and said sounding a bit embarrassed: "I was curious as to what he's always listening to. I'm of course going to return them." He then asked "Is something the matter Spirit? You seem flustered."

"Oh I just got a report that an intruder of some kind has been spotted in the city. Apparently he's confused and has on a very strange cloths. Some described it as a gold, the metal not the color, on a white fabric dress and a blue cape." Spirit quickly explained.

Lord Death tilted his head in confusion: "Is there anything more you can tell me about him?"

"Only that he is very tan in complexion, with purple eyes. Oh! And Stein said that his soul gives off a very dark wavelength, not evil just dark. He was last seen by uh the fountain I think." Spirit answer promptly.

"Oh ho!" said Lord Death brightly moving across the platform to his mirror. He made it go active as Spirit walked up next to him. They both viewed the fountain that was about in the center of town. Where their visitor still was. "You didn't mention his bold hairstyle Spirit." said Lord Death

"Sorry sir, I didn't know about it." replied Spirit

The person they were observing seemed to know he was being watched and had turned in their direction. He of course couldn't see who was watching him. He indeed wore the thing that Spirit had described, but what had been called a dress was in reality a tunic. He also had a gold tiara like crown on his forehead with gold adornments on his chest, wrists, hands and ears. His hairstyle was indeed bold, with shockingly blonde bangs that on one side framed his face and on the other just stuck out to the side. Then going up his hair was mostly black and was spiked high atop his head with red trim.

"Hello? Is someone there?" called the stranger He had a deep commanding voice, though it had a gentle quality to it. He wore a stoic expression.

"Wow! I cant wait to see your sons reaction when he sees that a-symmetrical hair!" said Spirit trying and failing at trying not to grin. His face went perfectly straight again when Lord Deaths huge square hand came up to about his shoulder height, silently threatening a Reaper Chop.

"Has there been any reports of damage or strange happenings around him?" Lord Death asked his huge hand seeming to vanish into thin air.

"Not at the present time sir." Spirit answered

"Then lets go down and meet our guest then!" Lord Death said brightly.

"This is definitely not the spirit realm and its not Domino City. Where am I?" Atem spoke to himself as the feeling of being watched left him.

The formally Nameless Pharaoh was about to start pacing when the answer to his question came to him in the form of a rather high pitched voice: "Your in Death City of course."

Atem turned and saw Lord Death. He jumped for the first time in a very long time. "Whoa!" he shouted Lord Death was surprisingly fast for someone who had been nearly blown in half a few weeks ago. "Your big, spiky and armed." said Atem putting up his hands for a moment to indicate that he was not the third item on his list. His eyes darted around so he could take the whole of the figure in. He hand never seen another quite like him before. The closest thing to compare him to was a Dual Monster called Reaper Of The Cards, but there were still very few similarities. Atem could also sense the scythe was not a normal one. "Death City? Never heard of it."

"How could you have never heard of Death City?" asked Spirit

Atem blinked rapidly: "Uh, your scythe just spoke." He may have known that the scythe wasn't a normal one, but he wasn't expecting that!

"Well of course hes never heard of Death City Spirit, hes clearly an Ancient Egyptian. I'm not quite that old you know!" said Lord Death

"Right sorry. I was half expecting him to speak Egyptian to be honest." said Spirit He then went back into his human form.

"I don't know how to respond to that." said a shocked Atem While trying to think of something intelligent to say Atem just happened to look down expecting to see black clad legs. He of course saw the strange lightning bolt and strike shaped appendage Lord Death seemed to float on. He looked back up saying: "Uh-" until he saw Spirit behind him signaling not to question it. Atem quickly shifted to something else to say: "My name is Atem and I don't mean any harm. What are you names? And yes I can speak Egyptian." He then gave a small smirk.

"I'm Spirit and this is Lord Death." said Spirit

"So hes a Reaper." said Atem He of course knew what a Grin Reaper was. Yugi told him. "Never thought I would see a Grim Reaper." He kept the fact that he looked different from what he thought he should look like to himself.

"Well your about to meet another one. My son Death The Kid and his weapon partners are headed this way." said Lord Death pointing over Atems head.

He turned and saw him. He was about to give him a good natured wave when the shout of "Yahoo!" broke the quite.

Atem side stepped to get out of the way of the chain scythe that had been thrown in an attempt to tie him. He collided with Lord Death. "Sorry!" he quickly said as Black Star landed and told Tsubaki to go into enchanted sword mode.

On instinct Atem quickly looked for his own weapon and saw a discarded pipe laying on the ground. He did what Joey would have called 'an action roll' (really called a Judo Roll) to get to it and dodge the dark energy charged blade: "Ha! Running wont save you from a big guy like me!" shouted Black Star pursuing The Pharaoh. Who grabbed the pipe and charged it with his own dark energy, commonly known to his friends as well as himself as shadow magic. This was residual but oddly very strong. It turned the pipe very sword like in a matter of seconds and he met Black Stars newest attack with one of his own. Thus they were in a stand off, at least for the moment. "I -uh- How did you do that?!" asked Black Star

"Like you and yours I too am a man of hidden talents." said Atem

Black Star pushed back to try and unbalance his opponent and to change tactics. Atem was able to anticipate and jumped back as well.

"Should we stop them?" asked Spirit

"Not yet, I'm intrigued." replied Lord Death while rubbing his chin.

"Tsubaki, Shadow Star!" shouted Black Star

"Right!" said Tsubaki

Before the shadow attack began Atem let out a cocky snort of laughter as he actually closed his eyes grinned. His forehead glowed and his improvised sword became stronger and bigger. He deflected a good amount of the shadows, dodged others, then charged Black Star and slashed at him. He barely dodged, but he couldn't get away as Atem switched weapon hands and used the end of the pipe to knock him in the back of the head. At the same time Black Star received a strong pulse of shadow magic. He let out a short scream and stumbled forward.

Thinking the fight was over Atem turned to Lord Death and asked "So your name is really Death?"

The Grim Reaper nodded.

"Had to check." said Atem right before Black Star yelled: "Don't take your eyes off me!"

Atems eye twitched, the slight amusement was gone from his face: "I intend no harm, but as you've seen I will defend myself. Why do you attack me?!" He pointed his weapon at Black Star as he spoke.

"Because your an intruder and I'm the great assassin Black Star!" he shouted taking a dramatic pose.

Atem quirked an eyebrow at him: "Good fighter yes, assassin? Not so much. Being quite doesn't seem to come easy to you."

The spectators all snorted at that.

Tsubaki sweat dropped and said "Even a complete stranger can tell!"

Black Star growled at Atem and said "Don't mock me! Tsubaki ready?" Then both spoke: "Lets go Soul Res-"

"Stop!" shouted Lord Death with an odd note in his voice. Black Star and Atem froze and looked at him. Tsubaki returned to her human form, Atem nodded at her as his forehead stopped glowing and he dropped the pipe, it was normal by the time it hit the ground. He also put his hands behind his back. Atem could sense that The Reaper was full of questions and he was waiting for the onslaught, but he only said one thing: "Is that your pet? He sure is cute!" and pointed down at his feet.

"Huh?" said everyone including Atem.

He was the first to look down. Kuribo was there rubbing himself on his ankle kind of like a cat. Atems face softened. He bent down and picked the brown fuzzball up. "You found me huh? How many other friends from your uh neighborhood are looking for me?" The neighborhood to which he was referring to was The Dominion Of The Beasts also known as Dual Monsters Spirit World. Everyone exchanged looks when the furry brown creature started to make a sound that was very giggle like. Atem read it as such and that there was a party looking for him.

The world that Kuribo lived in was in a sense right next door to the spirit world that Atem had resided in after he had left Yugi and the others. It was like it was in between that world and Yugis. So he kept seeing Kuribo or Celtic Guardian or others. He was also with the humans sides of some of them, Dark Magician being a prime example. "Go tell them that I'm fine and hopefully I'll make sure some new friends and we'll hopefully have fun later. I have some stuff to explain and figure out. Can you get back to your world?"

Kuribo shook himself left and right. It was his way of saying no.

"I think that we have arrived in awkward situation Kuribo. Perhaps if I tinker with uh-nah, that wont work never mind. See you guys later. I'll call you with-" Atem made a little shadow magic spark with his hand.

Kuribo nodded, trilled happily then hopped away.

"So where were we?" Atem asked turning back to the others. His tone was rather light and he was only being stoic enough to hide the nerves of him being in someone elses world, literally. The weird sun with the face was a dead give away, as was the moon the night before. He didn't like the moon much as it bled a lot, he liked the sun better.

"I would like to talk to you in private." said Lord Death He had a seriousness that he rarely got.

"Understandable I think." said Atem before turning to Black Star. "Just friendly advice, try to compact the shadows a bit more when you use Shadow Star. They will be harder to dodge that way. Though I made it look easy it still wasn't. It will also make the attack have more of an impact. I deal with shadows too so . . . Also I wasn't mocking you. Well until later."

Atem was about to follow Lord Death when Black Star blurted: "Why are you wearing a dress?!"

"Its a tunic not a dress." said Atem sounding oddly amused.

"And a cape?" asked Kid

"I like it. Hopefully later I can you why I'm in this outfit." Atem then left with Lord Death and Spirit. They went to the Death Room. It was easy for Atem to figure out that the building he was in was a school of some kind. He didn't ask because he knew he would have been told if they wanted him to know. Atem assumed it had something to do with the people using people who turn into weapons, as in teaching them. "Interesting office you have here." said Atem He wouldn't admit it, but the Death Room creep-ed him out a little. To his surprise it was the graveyard like crosses more then the guillotines. He started to feel a bit weird and kept glancing to his left.

"Are you alright?" asked Spirit He could tell by the way he faced off with Black Star that Atem wasn't the twitchy type, so why was he now?

"There is something strange in this room. Something that was only recently added. I don't like it." Atem answered

"Your not from our world are you?" Lord Death asked rather frankly.

"No I'm not and my cloths would suggest not entirely from this time." answered Atem

"Not entirely?" asked Spirit

"There is a long story that goes with that." said Atem grinning.

"You not even human." said Lord Death He then spun around and stuck his hand right into Atems chest. Which took a surprising amount of force. Atem looked at the hand, but didn't seem bothered that it was there. In fact he seemed rather board. Spirit jumped like someone through knife at him.

"Wha-?! How is that even possible?!" he shouted in an odd pose as he didn't correct himself after he had jumped.

"Its quite simple." said Lord Death removing his hand from Atems chest and putting his index finger up. "Atem is actually a spirit, Spirit. Not just wearing a loony in a costume." With that the red headed Death Scythe lost his balance and fell over backwards.

Atem laughed at that and The Grim Reapers phrasing. "You have a bit of a quirky streak don't you?" said Atem grinning.

Lord Death chuckled. Then the two of them moved to the raised platform, leaving Spirit twitching on the floor.

"How long have you known?"

"From when I first saw you in person at the fountain."

Suddenly Spirit was up and hovering behind The Pharaoh, who had taken to floating cross legged in mid-air. Spirit looked like he was a bit suspicious: "Then how were you able to fight Black Star like that? You don't have a physical body."

"For some unknown reason I'm very strong. I could even vaguely feel that pipe in my hand. -(flexes hand)- I hand no intention of hurting Black Star, I was only defending myself. Which is a natural thing to do when attacked." said Atem looking over his shoulder at him.

"Really?" said Spirit crossing his arms, looking and sounding a bit like a cop.

Atem nodded: "Oh and please don't hover like that. Its really quite annoying."

"Yeah he can be like that sometimes." said Lord Death as Spirit moved to stand next to Atem instead of behind him. "Anyway Spirit, from my touching him before I saw that he is indeed the spirit of a human and that though he is quite powerful, enough that he could have finished off Black Star, he really intends us no harm."

Atem shot Spirit a small smirk, though somehow sensed that Lord Deaths analysis told him more then he was telling. He didn't ask. Course through that same touch Atem knew that The Reaper wasn't human either, but a Shikigami. A type of living spirit of great strength. This he also kept to himself, though found it oddly comforting that The Reaper wasn't just a weirdo in a costume. Even though he had gotten the weird part right. This thought made him glance to his left again for some unknown, and because of that annoying, reason.

That was also the side Spirit was on, so he of course noticed: "Why do you keep doing that?"

"The thing in this room that's bothering me is in that direction." Atem answered with an awkward shrug. Atem could see that his answer unnerved Spirit a little.

"How long have you been in our world?" Lord Death suddenly asked.

"The Reaper doesn't miss much dose he?" Atem thought "I'm not sure, possibly for as much as a few weeks." Atem said faintly hearing Spirits breath hitch. "Something happened here." he quickly thought. Atem didn't miss much either. He pretended not to notice as he continued: "I spent most of that time wondering the dessert until I arrived in you city this morning."

"Alright well that question leads to this one: how did you get to this world?"

"Spirit, I wanted to ask that! Stop stealing my thunder!" said Lord Death to Atems great amusement.

"These two have an interesting dynamic." Atem though grinning. He only answered the question after Lord Death asked it. "Its a bit hard to say. I was in the spirit realm with my friends like always, more on them later, when Kuribo suddenly burst in. Hes that brown puffball you saw before, though they do come in a variety of colors. He trilled and squealed in obvious distress. We all gathered around him to see what was wrong. Then it happened . . . " Atems eyes went big as the memory seemed to hit him like a punch. The two to whom he was speaking exchanged a glance, but didn't speak. It was clear that Atem was way to unnerved by what happened to even try to be stoic right now. "A strange light suddenly appeared, like something exploded without sound. The light had an odd blue trim. My friends and I were separated by it. Then this overwhelming sense slammed me hard and I was frozen. It felt like I was infected by what hit me and then I just blacked out. Then when I came out of it a calmer sense was there. I liked it, it reminded me of my brave friend, one by the name of Yugi during certain rather harrowing situations." One of those flashed through his mind rather quickly: when he refused to let him take over at the pier when they were up against a brain controlled Joey. He started to calm down. "Then I faded off again, like I was falling asleep with the sensation of floating. When I woke up again I was in the dessert and it was night. I have been looking for my friends ever since." He ended his story rather frankly. He glanced between Lord Death and Spirit to see their reactions.

They shared a quick glance before Lord Death spoke in a surprisingly gentle tone: "What was the sense that you were slammed by? That you felt infected you?"

Atems face clouded while he tried to think of a way to describe it. His hands, which were holding his arms, tightened noticeably. Though Atem wasn't even aware he was doing that. Also it was very unlike him, even Spirit and Lord Death could tell. His eyes got slightly big again when the answer came to him: "Madness." Spirits breath hitched again, only it was apparent this time. "Madness, that's what it was." Atem nodded to himself and fought the urge to look to his left again.

"Come to think of it there was a large amount of souls floating around after the battle. Some of them must have been Atem and his friends." said Spirit turning to The Reaper. There was thinly veiled worry in his voice.

"Yes and his destruction was rather large and just as he describes. Said event must have been powerful enough to temporarily tear the veil between the living realm and the spirit realm." Lord Death replied

Atem only listened as he shifted his position to standing with his hands behind his back. The two went silent as they began thinking. Then Lord Death looked at Atem ans asked "Do you by any chance know what a Keshin is?"

Atem shook his head. Thus began the explaining about the academy and the battle that brought The Pharaoh to Death City. This was followed by Atem explaining things about himself. It distracted him for a bit so he stopped looking to his left. Once the explanations were done with The Reaper sent out an announcement that Atem was there and that he was a friendly. Then he called Makas Team to The Death Room only to be reminded that Maka and Soul were on a solo mission when only Kid, Liz, Patty, Black Star and Tsubaki showed up.

Like Spirit had suggested before Death The Kid did have a reaction to Atems a-symmetrical hair. He tried to fix it to, predictably, no avail. This caused him to curl into a ball some distance away: "Symmetry is perfection and I cant get it from that guys hair! Its all over the place! I'm such an awful person, I should just die right here!"

Atem was more stunned by this then when he first saw Spirit go from a scythe to a person. "Uh Whats the proper response to that?" he asked "Anyone?" He looked around the room at large.

"There isn't one, so don't worry about it." said Liz in a board tone while Patty giggled. "I would suggest that you do something about your hair so he'll calm down though."

"I'll try." He used a bit of shadow magic to make his bangs frame his face in as perfectly symmetrical way as he was as he could, Using Lord Deaths mirror to do so. Then he fixed his cape so it had a hood to cover the rest. He knew it would be faster that way. Again he used the mirror and found that he kind of liked it. He also saw that Patty was poking Kid in the butt with a stick.

This he snorted at then jumped when ripples appeared in the mirror. It was closely followed by a girl saying: "Hey Lord Death are you there? Hey who are you?"

Caught off guard again he blurted his name then said "Reaper its for you!" Then backed away from it.

"That's Lord Death." Spirit shot in Atems direction.

Atem only shrugged at him while the aforementioned told him to be quite before turning to talk to Maka.

"Good to see you Maka! Did the mission go well?"

Soul then walked into view: "Besides Maka mildly spraining her wrist we bagged and tagged every soul we needed too." Soul then burped and rubbed his belly.

Atem didn't much like the look of that. Kid noticed the strange look on his face and that it was symmetrical now and went over to him. "Don't worry he wont eat you. Your not a Keshin egg." he said

"Oh right., just not used to the idea of someone actually eating souls." said Atem

As Lord Death carried on a cheerful conversation with Maka Atem found himself grinning at her.

"Why are you grinning at my daughter like that?" Spirit asked suddenly. It was obviously that Spirit was going to get annoying again.

"She just reminds me of a friend of mine named Mana." Atem answered with a shrug.

"Well don't get any ideas in that spiky head of yours." Spirit said loudly.

Atem blinked thinking: "Over protective much?" before they all heard Maka say: "Lord Death could you?"

"Sure Maka!" Lord Death replied Then: "Reaper Chop!" and a giant square hand slammed Spirit to the floor.

"Classic!" said Kid grinning.

"That is the second time today since I've been in here that hes been on the floor." said Atem oddly unsurprised by what just happened. He was also amused once her saw that Spirit was alright.

"So whose the guy in the dress?" Soul asked pointing at Atem.

Who quirked an eyebrow: "Its a tunic-"

"And whats with the cape? I don't have tickets to the opera!" said Black Star who then burst out laughing.

"OK I have to admit that was a good one!" said Atem with a laugh.

Lord Death then filled the team in on him. Kid of course already knew on sight that he was a spirit like his father did. Everyone else was floored. After-wards: "So why only tell us about him besides what you told the rest of the city?" asked Tsubaki

"Because I knew you would be the most open to him and wouldn't be nervous that hes going to posses you or something. I don't want the city to panic so we are going to keep this between us- oh and Crona? What are you doing here?" explained then asked Lord Death He had been semi-facing the room the whole time he had been filling in the group about Atem, with every so often turning to Soul and Maka in the mirror. While also being so absorbed in speaking he didn't notice Cronas approach. Said pink haired kid had heard everything.

"Is Crona a guy or a girl?" Atem asked Kid quietly.

"We were going to have a talk about my grades." Crona answered Lord Death.

"The only ones who know for sure is them." Kid answered Atem.

"Oh yeah I forgot about that as something came up." said Lord Death rubbing the back of his head. Then he pointed Atem out who waved before quickly asking Kid: "Them?"

Ragnarok then popped out of Cronas back saying: "Well if no meeting I say its time for food! Hey whose this joker?" He was looking at The Pharaoh during his last sentence.

"Wow, so how many times am I going to be shocked today? I'm not one who is easily shocked and so far I count six." said Atem

Everyone just grinned at him.

Being a sarcastic question he moved onto his next one: "I'm just going to stick with these guys then and Crona?"

"If you wouldn't mind." replied Lord Death

"Nah I'm good. Its a deal." said Atem "And one more question, that's a mask right?"

Lord Death sweat dropped then said "Yes it is. Off you go then and Crona we will have to meet in the morning. There are things that I have to discus with Spirit here."

"OK." said Crona

They all then left The Death Room and Maka and Soul signed off.

"He kept glancing to the left and said that's where the thing that's bothering him is. There's no way he could have known that's the side of the room where Asuras soul is buried." said Spirit "I have a strong feeling that somethings going to happen."

"Yes, things could get quite hairy." replied Lord Death

"I have to ask do you know more about Atem then your letting on?"

All Spirit got in reply just then was a: "Hmm . . . "

"Well until Maka and Soul come back how about a tour of the town?" Kid asked Atem.

"Sure, but lets skip the fountain. I think I've seen enough of that." said Atem with a smirk.

"Yeah you probably want to go to a dress shop you pansy and whats with these bangs?" said Ragnarok grabbing said bangs.

Atem flicked him in the head which surprisingly made him let go and said "Its a tunic!"

Black Star snorted and whispered to Tsubaki: "That is not getting old!"

"Sorry about him. Hes hungry so hes more hostile then normal." Crona said to Atem.

"What is he exactly?" Atem asked poking Ragnarok in the middle of the X on his face when he tried for his bangs again.

By the time Soul and Maka found them not only were they all fed, but Ragnarok had been explained. Atem wasn't really shocked by the story, but he did find it an incredible one.

"You really are hard to shock huh?" said Black Star

"You got that right. Whoa!" Atem hit the ground in complete shock as a huge beam of light and energy slammed into the ground right in front of him.

"That makes seven shocks!" said Patty laughing.

Atem just shook his head grinning.

"Damn! That wont do at all! We have to make sure to shock you one more time before today ends to make a perfectly symmetrical eight!" said Kid in a determined voice.

Everyone looked at him like 'Really?'.

"What would happen if I told you that I happen to like the number seven?" said Atem only being half sarcastic.

"I would endeavor to do it anyway." said Kid without missing a beat.

"Alright then good luck with that." said Atem floating back up into a standing position. "Now what do we have here?"

They all looked and saw a rather regal looking sword sticking out of the ground. All of the D.W.M.A. Students recognized the sword and made the same face at the same time groaning.

"Whats that reaction for?" asked Atem

"You'll see." said Black Star almost sounding like he was in pain.

Atem blinked at him.

"Yes it is I students of the D.W.M.A.! I know you have missed me, but for the moment I have something to attend to. You there, the one in the fine tunic!" said the sword in a dramatic tone.

Atem wanted to shout 'Finally someone knows its not a dress!' but he didn't want to give Black Star the satisfaction. "Yes?" Atem said

"Inquiry, am I addressing The Great Pharaoh Atem by chance?" asked the sword

"Yes you are."

"Perfect!" There was a flash of light and thus appeared the strange white creature that was Excalibur.

"Isn't he unbelievably lame?" said Black Star

"I wouldn't say that. So far I find him interesting." said Atem

"Well you finely have something in common with someone, neither one of you is wearing pants!" said Soul smirking.

"Maka would you?" said Atem grinning over his shoulder at her.

"Sure Atem." she replied suddenly having a book in her hand. "Maka Chop!" and Soul hit the ground face first.

Atem laughed with the others. "I wanted to see if that would work and it did!" said Atem

"Classic!" said Tsubaki

"Ahem! My legend begins in the twelfth century." said Excalibur to get their attention.

"Really now? Then your quite old." said Atem

"Yes, but you -(points cane at Atems face)- are older still. I respect that." said Excalibur

"Thanks." said Atem unsure of what to say next except: "I'm sorry who are you?"

"The Legendary Holy Sword Excalibur. You I can forgive for not knowing my legend. In time I shall educate you." Excalibur replied "But for now I do not come to talk about the legend that is me. I have come to inform you that your friends have taken up residence in my cave. They had been searching for you in shifts once there were together again until the brown furry one came all excited in a way that told them he had found you." Excalibur explained

"So are you here to tell me where they are?" began Atem

"And to tell you the legend of me with my five hour story telling party! I have been told that you can match me."

"I'm sure that I could." said Atem grinning.

"Your friends probably told him that to get rid of him for a while." said Kid

"Awe man do I feel sorry for you friends, ending up there of all places!" said Soul rubbing his forehead.

"I doubt that, so far I like the little guy." said Atem

Excalibur got a little misty hearing that.

"Come to think of it in our world there's an Excalibur as well. Its not as interesting as this one though as its only a sword."

"Well as thanks for you praise I would like to perform a little song for you!" said Excalibur

"Oh no not that! It will be in my head all day!" shouted Black Star with both hands on the sides of his head.

"Fool!" shouted Excalibur pointing his cane at his face. "Its afternoon so it wont be stuck in your head all day. Also even if I wasn't performing for a mighty king you have no right to deny a singer his song."

"Am I having a stroke or did that actually make sense?" asked Stein as he walked up.

He was introduced to Atem who said "No seriously whats his name?"

Even Excalibur laughed at that. Then he sang his song and did his little dance. Atem couldn't hold in the fit of giggles as he watched. (That's right giggles!) He also clapped when Excalibur was done. He bowed like a showmen.

"Is it just me or is Atem reminding you of Hero when he had Excalibur as a partner?" asked Maka

"Hes new give him time." said Stein

Atem decided that since they didn't like The Holy Sword and thus he kind of tortured them with his interest in him that he should make it up to them. "Hey, do you guys want to learn a really fun game? One that may get me out of your hair faster." said Atem suddenly. "You will be able to meet my friends."

"Is it a fighting game because I need some action!" said Black Star

"The way that we are going to do it as we don't have cards." said Atem

"So how will it send you back to the spirit world?" asked Liz

"To get the way to open I had to loose a match. Perhaps if one of you beats me I'll go back automatically with the others."

"How are we to beat you if we just learned the game?" asked Kid

"I sense that your a strategic lot, mostly. -(playful wink at Black Star who makes face)- So once your hip to the rules I can see it happening." Atem answered Kid. Then he turned to Stein and said "And you wanted to tell us something, but Excalibur delightfully distracted us."

Everyone was thinking the same thing: "Not the words I would use."

"Uh . . . " Stein then decided not to comment: "I know that your not one who is to be ordered about, but Lord Death requests that during the night you stay at my lab."

"That works for me as I don't want to accidentally keep anyone awake and I can tell that you guys want to get a good look at me." he was grinning at the last part.

Stein grinned while the students just stared at him thinking: "You poor bastard!"

Excalibur was the only one to make a comment though: "Even though you have no actual body, sleep with one eye open!"

"Interesting advice coming from someone whose eyes are always open." said Atem grinning at Excalibur again.

Everyone was expecting him to shout 'Fool!' then say something obnoxious, but he pointed his cane at his face and said "Your very observant. Now on to this game of yours!" dramatically.

"OK, I'm going to need a pen and paper to write out the rules and a place with a lot of room to play this game." said Atem thinking: "How can these guys not like Excalibur?" They went to the park to play Atems mystery game and for some reason Dr. Stein had a clip board loaded with paper and a pen on him so he was able to use that. While Atem wrote down the rules of Dual Monsters he talked about some of his adventures with Yugi and his friends before talking about the friends they were about to meet.

After singing a completely random song about sushi rolls, to which all the students shouted "Lame!", Excalibur told him the only human spirit that made it was his friend Mana and the fairies back in the cave were taking care of her. When she arrived to the cave she was very weak and at the risk of fading out of existence, but now she was going to recover. The fairies just wouldn't let her leave until she was. Everyone else, as in the dual spirits were fine.

"Huh never would have guessed that." Atem thought it a bit strange that he was super strong, she was super weak and the rest were in the middle and had nothing wrong with any of them. "Then again the way we got here was pretty strange." He then continued with what he was doing. Then he handed out the rules for everyone to read and Stein got his clipboard back. "Before we start two questions one: how did you know I was a spirit Excalibur?"

"Having been a legend as long as I you pick up many things Pharaoh." said the strange white pants-less creatures as he swung his cane around.

"Alright I guess that makes sense. Moving on to question two: besides Mana, who I'm going to visit bright and early in the morning, and other then the five Kuribo brothers do you know who else is in you cave?"

"I listed them along with their powers for now you don't need magic and trap cards for this game."

A huge amount of papers were then shoved into Atems face. He took them up and looked at the top page: "One-Thousand Provisions?"

"Oops wrong list! But you may keep them if you like." He then pulled out the correct list, which contained a few choice trademarks. It also had their attack and defense points. Atem was impressed.

"Well your an organized little guy aren't you, good job." said Atem Then he blinked when something occurred to him: "Where were you keeping all those papers?"

"Its Excalibur don't question it." said Stein as Atem handed him the monster lists to be passed around.

"Why?"

"Because your head would explode." Stein said simply. "Its like Spock watching One Piece, it wouldn't be pretty."

Atem didn't know what surprised him more that analogy or that Yugis and their worlds shared TV shows. It was something Yugi never missed. Then the fleeting thought of "Perhaps everything is a TV show?" quickly crossed his mind. Which then led to this thought "If that's true, I hope mine was a hit." These thought amused him greatly. As Atem sat and waited for the others to read over all the lists something else occurred to him: how did Excalibur know that this was a card game with other cards besides monsters?! He then decided to just stay calm and follow Steins advice.

The games rules of course were slightly different as they had to play the shadow game version, meaning that Atem had to use his power to summon the monsters they told him to and he had to be careful that no one got hurt. This included the monsters. Oddly enough it was easier then he thought it would be and they had a great time. They played against him and each other. The ones to beat out of the students were Death The Kid and Maka. Excalibur, Stein, and Tsubaki were in the middle and then it went Liz, Patty, Soul then Black Star. Crona tried to play but Ragnarok kept cheating. Atem fixed that by having them, Crona and Ragnarok, play verses Tsubaki and Liz.

"There problem solved." said Atem

As Kid predicted no one could beat The Pharaoh. Kid came the closest and they did almost see Atem laugh himself into a defeat. He was challenged by Excalibur. Which surprised the others since he was so formal with him. Everyone watched this match which seemed a somewhat standard match until Atem summoned Dark Magician. He had a complexion that matched Atems and brown hair. He actually rolled his eyes at the sight of Excalibur.

"Am I the only who likes him?" Atem wanted to ask.

"What has the white one done? I'll make sure he pays!" said Dark Magician pointing his staff at Excalibur in a threatening manner.

"Nothing, we are having a friendly dual." Atem answered Most were surprised by what the Magician said. Patty and Tsubaki were not even paying the slightest bit of attention to the current dual for they were busy playing with the many colored Kuribo Bothers. "Hes my security so hes a bit protective and Excalibur is quite strong. So it makes sense that my friend here would be on his toes." said Atem giving Dark Magician an affectionate grin.

"Alright then lets finish this match!" Dark Magician then said.

"Yup that legendary sword is going down." said Atem in a very Joey like way.

This was just about to happen when Excalibur got right into The Magicians path, causing him to halt. Everyone was confused, then Excalibur pointed his cane right in his face and said "Fool!" There was a long pause during which Atem swore he could hear a cricket chirping then Excalibur said "Purple is not to be worn after Labor Day!"

Dark Magician was so surprised he went to take a step back and ended up floating in the air upside down. Atem burst into uncontrollable laughter because the line was so out of left field that it may not have even been in the ball park. He was floating in the air holding his belly. It covered the giggle fit that followed when he saw his summoned upside down.

He righted himself as Liz said "Wait the rule is white after Labor Day not purple."

"Fool, my legend begins in the twelfth century. That gives me the power to change fashion rules!"

Everyone just stared at him.

Then Atem shocked them by saying: "Yeah its right here! Provision Number Two-Hundred-Ninety: One will always be fashionable in Excaliburs presence and the rules there off are subject to change by Excaliburs authority!" He was then hit by another fit of giggles.

"But since Atems older cant he just change them back?" asked Maka She then said "What the hell did I just say?" No one wanted to touch that one.

"So can The Pharaoh be declared the winner now because no matter who Dark Magician attacks they win." said Celtic Guardian who was standing next to Curse Of Dragon.

"Oh yeah, we never finished our attack. That almost counted as a forfeit. So attack!"

Dark Magician just shrugged, walked over to Celtic Guardian and bonked him on the head with his staff. Then he said "There we win."

Atem shrugged and said "Works for me." looking amused.

"That was underwhelming." said Black Star

"Well its kind of getting late and this isn't going to be the last match so don't worry about it." said Atem grinning.

"He has a point none of us beat him." Kid was saying as most of the monsters spirits used their powers to go back to the cave. They wanted to check on Mana.

"I don't understand why we cant just go back to our world like we used to." Dark Magician Girl said to her male counterpart.

"Its because the energy of this world is different from that of the world that The Pharaoh and I once lived." he answered not taking his eyes off Atem.

"Inquiry to you Dark Mage!" said Excalibur poking him in the side with his cane. It wasn't hard enough to go through him though. Like Atem he could vaguely feel it.

"Yes?"

"Is it regular for Atem to laugh like he did?"

"No, hes the type that normally chuckles. Why do you ask?" Dark Magician answered taken a bit of guard that his question was so serious.

"But in his defense your not only quirky but your random as well." said Dark Magician Girl with a grin. Dark Magician grinned too.

"You think so? I have to say I have never seen myself as such." said Excalibur

Dark Magician really wanted to make a smart remark, but then thought "Nah, to easy." before his mind suddenly shifted to how serious Excalibur was being. It unnerved him a little. "Excalibur, you don't think that there is something the matter with him do you?"

"I hope not. I hope its nothing more then a reaction to the strange to him energy of this world, but it is a strong possibility. I actually had him giggling before the matches even started. That's why I inquired to you." said Excalibur

The two magicians finely took their eyes off of Atem and looked at The Holy Sword. For he had worry in his voice. "Excalibur, I would like to make a request. The Pharaoh is more then likely going to have my student and I go back to your cave to see to my other student Mana. Aside from him we know her the best. Also we don't want to seem hostile." Dark Magician began wondering if he would call him a fool when he said what he was leading up to. "Could you watch him in my absence? The Kuribo could be messengers."

"You are a fool for stealing my thunder for I was just about to suggest the same thing!" he replied

Both magicians grinned at that.

"It may be a comfort for you to learn that that man -(indicates Stein)- is the academys top meister. Atem will be residing at his residence during the nights of his stay in the city. He will be able to detect if something changes in his wavelength. I will pay attention to his behavior. He reminds me very much of the meister King Author. That's also why I felt strange about the laughing." said Excalibur

Atem went over to them soon after this was said and Dark Magician was right in his assumption that he would want the to see to Mana. He liked the idea of using the Kuribo as messengers. Just before the two left Atem reminded them to tell Mana that he was going to come see her in the morning and to tell her why he had to stay in the city.

He knew she would understand: " I like the fact that you and Dark Magician have worked out some of your issues, but your not heading back to you cave?"

"Because you would be lost without me and you have more previsions to peruse of course!" replied Excalibur

Hoping to get rid of him anyway Soul reminded him of something: "Hes not a meister, so why would you make him look through those? Uncool man."

"Fool! Its a long night, he needs reading material." Excalibur then took the lead when they started walking again. They were originally headed to the lab, but they wanted to show Atem where they all lived too.

"Hopefully we can do this fairly fast because your worlds moon kind of creeps me out. We don't have faces on our sun and moon-"

"Wait Excalibur made sense again!" said Liz She was 'holding' the white Kuribo. Patty had the pink one.

"What did you do to him?" asked Tsubaki who had the blue Kuribo on he head.

"And can you show us how to do it?" asked Soul who had the green one on his shoulder.

"I didn't do anything to him." said Atem flipping through the one-thousand provisions. He grinned at the funny ones like 'Only the grandest of toilets will do'.

The brown Kuribo just floated around until Ragnarok decided he was annoyed by that fact. "Hold still you flying Afro!" he said before hitting the poor creature near one of his eyes. Brown Kuribo got mad and suddenly his furry little face contorted as such then just under the eyes split into a big black mouth. Everyone jumped and Crona screamed when the fuzzball shrieked. Atem slapped himself when he realized he had a sadistic grin on his face.

He then grabbed Brown Kuribo and calmed him down: "Huh, the last time I saw you look like that was when I 'met' Yugi."

"How am I going to deal with that thing?!" asked Crona

"Easy, don't make him angry." said Atem "This one is more partial to me anyway so . . . " He put that one on his own shoulder and apologized to Crona. Then made the kid laugh by flicking Ragnarok in the head until he disappeared into Cronas back again. "Alright, shall we press on? Lets not forget the challenge is still on to shock me one more time so Kid will be happy with his symmetry." Atem started going again, but stopped quickly as Stein and Excalibur were standing there staring at him. "Crona I like, Ragnarok so much." It was the only thing he could think to say. He knew that at the very least they had seen him slap himself. What kind of scared him is that he couldn't understand why he had to do it.

Thankfully Maka came to his rescue, he didn't show it, but he was feeling pretty awkward: "You guys are giving him a complex. Quite staring, there was no harm done." She walked up to Atems side and carefully, so as to not got through him, wrapped one of her arms around his and began walking again, right around the two of them. Then down the side walk. Atem went with her as he didn't know what else to do.

"I had a weird moment, I sense that you somehow noticed." Atem said to her.

"I sensed, but didn't see." said Maka "For a moment something was off in your wavelength."

"Your using wavelength in place of the word energy right because everyone gives off energy." said Atem

"Yes, bit it comes off in waves hence the term. Dr. Stein and I can detect it and see souls of living people."

"Oh, had to make sure we were thinking the same thing. Anyway what was wrong with me?"

"It was to fast, I couldn't figure it out. You might want to ask Stein about it later." said Maka

Atem nodded as he listened to the sound of everyone walking until Excalibur hooked Makas wrist and told her to halt.

"What do you want you little weirdo?!" she said loudly as he marched in between them, pushing them apart. Atems arm went through Makas making her elbow very cold. She glared at Excalibur while she rubbed it.

"You almost walked over this cat!" he said pointing with his cane at the cat that was sleeping right in front of them on the side walk. "Cats are sacred to the Egyptians. Is that not right?"

"You nailed it Excalibur." said Atem He then went up to the cat to get a better look. It was then that the others realized that they were outside Maka and Souls building. So that cat must be . . . The cat opened her eyes, yawned then got up and stretched. Atem tilted his head when he saw that she was wearing a witches hat. Tsubaki moved to warn him, but Kid put his hand up grinning.

The cat saw Atem and tilted her head then there was a huge puff of white smoke and a women in a very revealing bikini was standing there in a rather suggestive pose. Atem went flying backwards in obvious shock.

"Hey cutie! I'm Blair, you must be the new guy!" she said ending with a wink. Soul got a bloody nose and toppled over backwards.

"What in the-?!" Atem shielded his own gaze saying: "Egyptian belly dancers wore more then that!" He then noticed Soul and thought "If I could bleed I'd probably be right there with you!"

"Victory! Eight shocks! Perfect symmetry I love it so!" Everyone including and perhaps especially Atem sweat dropped.

They then went up to the apartment. Blair kept making googly eyes at Atem so he kept his distance by keeping his floating above them above them position. The Kuribo Brothers thought it was funny and wouldn't stop giggling. He made a bit of a face at that. Once in the apartment and Blair got dressed, having now shown off her new bathing suit, Maka pulled out a map of Death City and showed Atem where everyone lived.

"But wheres Cronas house?" he asked

"He has a room at the academy." Soul answered They all just kind of hung out, played with The Kuribo Brothers and laughed when Blair started to chase Atem around. Soul sat there thinking: "Welcome to my world. Dude, I know your pain!" She did somehow manage to catch him in a giant glowing free floating pumpkin.

He made a face and said "Jack Skellington called, he wants his pumpkin mojo back."

Everyone laughed at that.

"Alright, fun is fun. Now let him go before Excalibur blows a blood vessel." said Stein

"Awe but I wanted to play with him!" said Blair making a boo face.

"The Kuribo are friendly as long as you don't make them angry." said Crona

"Ragnarok?" asked Blair

"Yeah." said Atem

"Pum-pum-pumpkin-pum-pumpkin!" said Blair freeing Atem.

Excalibur, who had been getting angry because he was captured, calmed down. He hadn't done anything for two reasons, the first being he was watching The Pharaohs behavior and the second being he knew Blair wasn't going to hurt him, as did Atem. He found it disrespectful though, hence he got angry.

"Well that was different." said Atem with a shrug. "Don't do that again unless there's some kind of insane emergency, OK?"

"Your no fun, but OK." said Blair

Stein chuckled then checked the time: "If you want to make it to the lab before the moon raises we should head out now."

"Fool! He can float over the buildings and thus can get there faster." said Excalibur

"Hes right again." said Atem

"And he made sense again why?" asked Black Star

"Fool! I always make sense! Just because you cant keep up with me means nothing!" said Excalibur pointing at him with his cane.

Black Star smacked the cane away. "See now how obnoxious he is?" Black Star said to Atem.

Who nodded, but he was nothing compared to Joey, Tristan and Duke when they got going. At least for the moment. "I have a high tolerance for this kind of thing though."

"Why am I not surprised?" said Stein clearly amused. Atem, Stein and Excalibur then headed to the lab after that. "I have a question for you Pharaoh." said Stein when they were about half way there. Atem didn't do as Excalibur said as he didn't want to scare anyone.

"Go ahead."

"During your time in the desert on the way here were there any strange occurrences?" asked Stein Both of them expected Excalibur to yell: 'Fool! You should never question a king!' or an obnoxious version there of, but he just started swinging his cane around like a baton. It was hard to tell if he was listening or not.

"Any strange occurrences hm, vivid dreams. Not all of them pleasant. Some were from my memories the pleasant ones."

"Naturally." said Stein

Then there were these ones where I was seeing from the eyes of someone who slaughtered women." Atem held back a shudder, but couldn't he couldn't stop his eyes from going big in his rush to go stoic.

"What did these women look like?" Stein asked

"The only thing I remember about them is they wore hats like a lot like Blairs and often wore long dresses, but that's all I can remember." said Atem

"Those women were witches. They are enemies of the academy." said Stein

"Alright, but even after they were unable to fight back whoever it was would not stop until they were . . . The point is it was not right." said Atem sternly. "And make no mistake I have been in battle before."

Stein only nodded then said "Anything else?"

Atem shook his head. They didn't talk much after that. Stein was deep in thought and Excalibur was off in his own world. Atem couldn't help but wonder if there was something wrong with himself. When they arrived Atem couldn't stop himself from saying: "Your are really working the stitch motif aren't you?"

Stein grinned: "I have to match something." He then indicated the stitches on his face.

"He likes to dissect things." said a blonde women walking over with a bag of food. "Hi, I'm his partner Marie. I'm ranked Death Scythe like Spirit, but I turn into a type of hammer." she said with a good natured smile.

Atem was reminded a bit of Tea. He grinned back then said "That explains why Excalibur is on the roof. Though I have no clue how he go up there." The three plus Kuribo looked and saw him working on a new dance.

"Oh boy." said Stein

"Hes not half bad, but where dose he get the energy?" asked Marie

"Sugar always worked for me, though sometimes I'd get sugar high and accidentally break things." said Atem grinning.

"You went from sugar high to sugar drunk then." said Stein grinning.

Atem snorted: "Something like that."

"Sounds like you really can match Excalibur in a five hour story telling party." said Stein still grinning. They went in and put the food away. Then they talked for a while and all to soon the non-spirits had to go to sleep. Before Stein did he showed Atem to a room where he could do whatever he wanted at night and not disturb anyone. He found Steins logic sound. Atem wasn't of course locked in (as if he could be) or forbidden to leave the room. What Stein didn't tell him was that the room was equipped with special sensory equipment made by soul perceiving meisters for soul perceiving meisters. He just needed to test it. Atem was the perfect subject being a spirit and of course unafraid that Stein might experiment on him. Not knowing much about shadow magic he knew better then to try at least without permission. Plus he didn't want Dark Magician on his tail.

Because the equipment was passive and would operate while Stein was sleeping Atem wouldn't even know about being watched. Stein would check the results in the morning before he went to work. The feed went to his giant walk in closet in his room. Atem was to keen to watch from afar like Lord Death had when Spirit told him of his presence. That's why Stein was called in to do this. Stein of course knew that Lord Death knew more about Atem then he was letting on, but he didn't ask as he didn't want it to influence him.

The next morning he went into the walk in closet to check his data and jumped when he saw that Excalibur was already in there: "How did you-?"

"Fool!" He said pointing his cane at him. "How can you question me at a time like this? You need to check your sensor findings in a timely manor, like I always did when I still hung my hat on Baker Street."

"Good morning to you too Excalibur." said Stein rolling his eyes and moving on to his new secret computer. For a while their was nothing worrying, but then Stein saw that Atem started to get very twitchy like he was scared of something and his wavelength started to get chaotic. At first Kuribo was able to distract him, but it became ineffective as time went on.

Stein could only imagine what this was like when Atem was alone in the desert. Then he was sure he knew as he saw the spiky headed spirit get that sadistic grin as he was looking at Kuribo, then he whipped around looking scared. It was just like himself when he was infected by the Keshin Asuras madness and had an imaginary conversation with the witch Medusa about studying Crona. What made Stein nervous was when Atem signaled Kuribo to keep away. The little guy looked worried.

"I'll be fine when the sun comes up." he told his cute companion. "My shadow power is acting up. Its weird, but I'm used to it. Its a reaction to the energy of this world. Its not that weird though unpleasant. I thought it would have stopped though, but- The dreams when I'm resting in a sleep like state I can handle but this- its stronger." The rest of it was more to himself.

He had been floating backwards and Stein just realized that he didn't much notice. Stein hit a few buttons and found that his shadow power had started to invert, meaning turn on him. It was a different weird then he was used to. Of course the computer registered said power as unknown, but Stein knew what it was. The more in view of the bleeding moon the more the shadow power inverted.

"No wonder he doesn't like the moon. He has a bad affect on him." said Stein

Kuribo figured it out rather quickly and shoved him away from the window. He stayed away from the window too. It seemed the little guy was to late as Atem floated curled up in a ball shaking. He had blacked out, but Stein knew that his mind was still active, very active. It was the bad dreams again.

"I have to report what we just saw to Lord Death! What are those two doing now?" Stein asked

"They are with Marie and Maka in the main room. They seem fine." answered Excalibur

"Alright seriously what happened to you? You've been less obnoxious and getting more serious since you met Atem. Not to mention you haven't -(imitates Excaliburs voice)- 'Fooled' -(normal voice)- him. Not once." said Stein blinking at Excalibur.

"Like I told The Dark Magician, he reminds me of the meister King Arthur. Also there's a good chance that Asuras madness infected him." said Excalibur in that same subdued voice he used when he began speaking to The Keshin.

Stein grinned at him: "Try to keep him with his friends for as long as possible this morning while I meet with Lord Death?"

"Of course and I think Maka is going to want to talk at some point." Excalibur answered

Stein nodded then went to turn the computer off when a little alarm went off.

Excalibur put his cane on his hand: "What dose that alarm mean?"

Stein hit the correct buttons to see exactly that and stood up abruptly: "Hes mostly likely unaware of it on some level, but hes getting stronger."

"That cant be good if hes infected by Asuras madness."

"Another question for you, how did you know he was exposed to Asuras-"

"Fool! Mana, his lady friend, told me how they got here. The fairies talked about her getting twitchy at night. My theory is that in his last moments as they were coming in he, The Keshin, got both of them, but he drained her for energy and attached more to him and hes hidden from our and even his own sight by his shadow magic. So he is of course is unaware of him-"

"And being in The Death Room so near the remainder of Asuras buried soul triggered this to begin! -(gestures at computer)- It all makes sense now!" Stein interrupted "And yes I'm a -(imitates Excaliburs voice)- 'Fool' -(normal voice)- for stealing your thunder." Stein grinned at him as he nodded. Stein then copied all the data onto a disk before shutting down the computer. "Lets move out."

Excalibur nodded.

They were just leaving the closet when Stein asked "By the way, where did you go last night?"

"I went to see Mana and tell Dark Magician how his Pharaoh is acting. The first weird part of the footage included. I can be stealthy when the mood strikes. Its rare though." he answered

"Clearly and don't tell me Mana reminds you of Guinevere." Stein said as they entered the main room.

"Oh I hope not." said Atem smirking.

"Of course not, she reminds me of more then one knight." said Excalibur

"If you say Lancelot I will have to hurt you!"

Excalibur pointed his cane at him and made a strange sound before saying: "Sir Lionel is at the top of the list actually!" Everyone knew he had just held back a 'Fool!'.

Atem grinned at him and said "That's a relief and I wouldn't have actually hurt you."

"Before we head out to see Mana Atem said we needed to see something." said Maka

"Yeah something weird is going on with me. Check this out." He turned to Maka and said "Let her rip!"

"You sure?"

"Yeah its less weird then me smashing into the wall like I did before." Atem got some weird looks. "What? I was trying to go through the wall like I did when I was trying to escape Blair. OK Maka do it."

"Maka Chop!"

"Ow!" shouted Atem getting really close to slamming into the floor. He could still float so he was able to a flip and avoid it. He then popped back up rubbing his head. "Like I said weird."

Stein had to stop himself from saying: "Yeah like I didn't see that coming." in reference to the pain he was able to feel, which indicated just how strong he was now.

"Maka says my energy -er- wavelength is crazy too. More then I can feel. That really cant be good."

"I would have used the word 'chaotic', but that sums it up." said Stein

"I'm still safe to be around right?"

Stein didn't answer right away. He was checking his wavelength for himself. True it was still a lot crazier then it had been the day before, but it was a lot calmer then it was during the night. "Maka reminds him of Mana. Spirit told me that. Friendship keeps him calmer, this is good. Being around those he sees as friends may slow down whatever exactly is happening to him." Stein thought "Yes, you safe to be around. Hell I'd say you should make sure to stay around anyone you see as a friend as much as you can. Be it a monster spirit or not. Its good for you trust me." Stein answered

Atem looked relieved.

"Alright then to the cave!" announced Excalibur dramatically.

"You two go on ahead, I need to talk to Dr. Stein for a second." said Atem

They nodded and left. Marie was headed to the school and Maka and Excalibur were going to meet up with Kid and the others.

"They do have school today." reminded Stein

"I know some of my dragon friends will transport them there and back to be faster. The monster spirits are stronger as well. Some will ride on Curse Of Dragon and some on Red Eyes Black Dragon. My friend Joeys favorite and the monster Kid summoned on me." said Atem

"That was impressive." said Stein "So what did you want to tell me?"

"Its hard to explain, but I think I'm somehow a double presence. There's me at present, but when I was in that room during the night there was another moment where I felt very strange. It was just like the moment when our little friend over here -(indicates Kuribo)- got angry. I know you and Excalibur noticed."

Stein nodded: "But? I can tell there's a 'but' in there."

"You sense right. But it was different this time because I felt another presence and it had a controlling feel to it. Not to mention a mad feeling as well."

"You mean crazy not angry right?"

"Little bit of both actually, but more the former. I didn't say any of this in front of Maka because I don't want to worry her or the others and I know your in a position to help me."

"Your right. One more question before you head out, you had more of the bad vivid dreams didn't you?"

"Yes and not a pleasant one in the lot." Atem paused then suddenly he looked worried: "The Reaper most likely already knows this, but I feel I should say it anyway. I would never hurt anyone without just cause. If I had to help someone with force I would, but I wouldn't use more force then I had to and I would never raise a hand to Maka or Patty or any of them under my own power."

Stein of course knew this as he saw it in his wavelength before. He nodded in understanding and without really thinking gave him a pat on the shoulder. He felt like he just came out of a freezer, but remarkable solid. Atem grinned at him as he felt better and left to catch up to the others.

Though it did not affect him, he could feel through his pat on Atems shoulder The Keshins madness wavelength and how it seemed to be trying to dominate the wavelength his shadow magic gave off.

"If we don't figure out a way to help him it could not only make a shadow magic barrier, but dominate Atem as well. It wont matter how strong he is either because its foreign to him. Just like certain things of ours may not work on him for the same reason." Stein said to himself. Then he grabbed his trademark lab coat, though purely out of habit and headed for the Death Room.

"Yeah! This is great! Its the best way for a guy like me to travel!" shouted Black Star as he appropriately rode on the back of Red Eyes Black Dragon. He wasn't the only one. Tsubaki and Liz were riding behind him.

"Yeah and I thought I was cool on my motorcycle! Riding a dragon makes that seem like nothing!" said Soul Then they both shouted "Yahoo!"

Maka and Patty laughed thinking "Great now there two of them!"

Kid, who was riding on his flying skateboard Yulsabub, just rolled his eyes. Atem, who was carrying Excalibur, grinned reminded of Joey and Tristan. They arrived at the cave very fast and were greeted by a great many fairies chattering at them about their visitors and how well Mana was doing. Course when they saw Excalibur was back they all made that face and groaned.

"I really am the only one who likes the little guy!" said Atem with an oddly amused look on his face. Then he jumped a little bit and put the little guy down.

"You alright?" Kid asked him.

"Yeah, but his energy -er- wavelength is very light, just like that guy Hero eluded to. Black Star told me while we were watching him when he was dauling against Stein. My wavelength is very dark of course." Atem answered

"Ah opposites meet a feisty reaction makes." said Kid

Atem nodded then blinked a great many times. Kid suddenly seemed to have some kind of aura around him, but the only one who seemed to notice was Atem. Who wanted to investigate it, but at the same time he didn't. Just as he got the strong feeling that his double presence issue was acting up again Flame Swordsmen called him over. Mana wanted to see him. He went to where Excalibur was most of the time. It had been taken over by the fairies and flowers were blooming. Mana was hovering above giggling with the fairies. Though she was strong now she was see though. Just like he was during his time with Yugi.

"That's the state I should be in too." Atem thought "What exactly happened to me during the change over from the spirit world to this one."

One of the Kuribo got her attention then pointed Atem out to her. She floated over and hugged him. The two then had a talk in Royal Egyptian. Some of it looked quite cheery, but some of it looked to worry her. She nodded when the talk was over. "OK now that that is done come meet some new friends." said Atem sounding cheery again. He then brought Mana over to the D.W.M.A. students. Some of the monsters spirits that they didn't know yet came over when he invited. Black Star ended up getting into a loosing fight against The Strike Ninja.

"Great now we are never going to hear then end of it." said Liz looking a bit annoyed.

Atem didn't say it but he was thinking "Great hes one of those!" as he snuck over to Dark Magician to talk to him like he did Mana. They, the students, were happy to see that he looked relieved by whatever The Pharaoh told him. At least when anyone was looking.

They stayed for as long as they could before they had to head back, during which time Excalibur showed off his new dance. He used his random song about sushi rolls. It set a new bout of giggles from Atem as much as he tried to hide it. The only one who didn't notice was Mana who was giggling at the face Black Star was making. He was trying so hard to think of something else, so he didn't get the song stuck in his head all day, that he looked constipated. When the others noticed they laughed too. It was soon after that they went back to Death City.

Maka tried to get Mana to come with so Atem would have someone other then the Kuribo to hang out with, but the fairies weren't having that. They wanted to make absolutely sure she was stable enough. Though Atem understood he found that he was a bit irritated at the same time. He knew he shouldn't be and managed to shake it off.

While they were on their way back there was a meeting going on in The Death Room. It consisted of Stein, Spirit, Marie, Lord Death and Justin as he happened to walk in to get his headphones back. They were trying to come up with a way to help Atem. Stein showed them all the data on the disk he mad via a borrowed laptop and talked about what he and Excalibur talked about.

"How do we know its not already to late?" asked Justin He didn't much like helping a spirit, especially one with such a dark wavelength. He thought darkness like Atems was only one step away from evil.

"Because we, unlike you, have spent time with him." said Spirit agitated by his attitude.

"Calm down boys. Now lets just come up with a plan. Stein do you have any idea on what we can do?" said Lord Death

"It may take more then a special wavelength to help since he himself has more then one." said Stein "One of them will obviously be Maries healing. That will help him come back to normal, but how to get passed his shadow magic and get The Keshin out of him I don't know." He then went quite as he was trying to think.

"It seems obvious to me, just have Maka use her anti-magic wavelength on him problem solved." said Justin

"Fool!" came Excaliburs voice. Everyone turned around to see him at the bottom of the stairs.

"That's the second time hes done that today." thought Stein just before the strange white creature began speaking again.

"That would not be problem solved. Maka has just informed us that if she were to try that it would destroy The Pharaoh because by now his normal wavelength and the wavelength of his shadow magic are so intertwined stemming from when it inverted on him last night." said Excalibur

"Like I said problem solved, it would destroy whats left of The Keshin at the same time." said Justin "We have to do it before he fully Keshin-izes!"

"Fool!" shouted both The Holy Sword and Stein. Everyone blinked in surprise at them. "He would not raise a hand to any of us even in anger. He only would raise a hand to anyone in defense of himself or another. He told me this before I came in, before he went to catch up with the others. No one is that good an actor, hes terrified." said Stein

"Also even if we did act against him it would be pointless, The Dark Magician plus others would come and defend him." said Excalibur

"The dark what?" asked Spirit

"An incredibly powerful spirit that is his friend and guardian. It would be unwise to anger him. True we have the numbers, but they have a great number of powers, dragons and are different from us. Whose to say we would be at all effective against them." said Stein

"Also you are in error to think that evil and darkness are one in the same. Lord Death, his son and Soul are fairly dark people, but they are not evil." said Excalibur because he was the only one who had the guts to word it that way.

"All excellent points, plus he would need an actual body and the will to become a Keshin and he has neither." said Lord Death not at all offended by what Excalibur said as it was true.

"Atem doesn't, but Asura might. I know he wouldn't under his own power, but what if Asura forced him to posses someone?" said Marie

"We have to help him before that possibility arises." said Lord Death

"TSH! Excaliburs only acting like this because Atem reminds him of King Arthur and we all know what happened to him!" said Justin in what was supposed to be a comment to himself, but he was so used to wearing earphones that it wasn't to quite.

Excalibur took it as the insult it was and charged him. Everyone thought that he was going to try to beat him with his cane, but instead he used it like a pol-vault to give himself height and went weapon form. He slashed at Justin then turned back to land on his feet and he did it again as he missed the first time. Justin kept dodging as he kept it up.

"So what happened that everyone knows? I never finished the story of King Author." said Spirit Everyone who wasn't fighting sweat dropped.

"He was slain in battle." said Lord Death Then he Reaper Chopped Justin.

The Angered Holy Sword calmed down and said "Maka and Atem are outside. Atem wont come in here again. She used Soul Perception one him to see if her wavelength would help before. She then told me what I said previously and I thought she followed me in here, but in the unlikely event that Atem needs to be restrained we already have someone who can do that. So we don't need him." Excalibur poked Justin in the chest with his cane pretty hard when he finished.

"Anyway being around those he sees as friends is slowing down whats happening to him. So that buys us some time." said Stein

"That explains a lot." said Spirit "But he told Kuribo to back off."

"Kuribo are the weakest of the monster spirits. He can call stronger ones. He didn't want to hurt him. It will be fine that way for now. Lets just focus on a way to help him and lets get Maka in here as she wants to help." said Stein Excalibur and Maka then switched places. He was pleased to find Atem reading through The One-Thousand Provisions again and that Maka was amused by that. Excalibur then took him on a tour of the school.

"Are you alright? You seem tense." he said

"Just angry at someone. His name is Justin, he always wears earphones. Steer clear of him, hes ranked Death Scythe and doesn't like you."

The next few days past somewhat eventfully. Atem seemed fine mostly, even at night. In his room he'd always called someone and Marie put a curtain over the window. The only time Stein was seen was during class and sometimes in the park where the group still liked to dual. The rest of the time he was locked in his secret computer room trying to figure out how to help Atem. Both with his Keshin problem and with the getting back to the spirit world problem. Though more on the first as he assumed Lord Death could handle the second. Black Star was still irritated about his loss to The Strike Ninja and that was getting on everyone nerves. The days were somewhat eventful because at times The Pharaoh did look a little shaky. He got more aggressive during duals, at one point forgetting that he removed the attack directly rule, (as in when one rival has no monsters of their field one is allowed to do so) for the safety of the players.

He was able to stop the attack from Gilford The Lightning by quickly getting in front of him and saying "Forget I said that!" The he signaled him back to his starting point. After which he checked to make sure Patty was alright. She was is a bit freaked out. Also he had moments when he felt like he was being watched even when he knew he wasn't. By then Stein was sure he was on the right track.

He knew that if he used Soul Force on him he might be able to get passed the shadow magic barrier, that had indeed formed, so that Marie could use her healing wavelength on him: "But that would only reset him. How do we get rid of the Keshin part of him?" Stein said to himself. He knew he had half the equation though, at least that was a good thing. Just like it was a good thing that everyone was so charmed by the messengers that were The Kuribo Brothers. As they and the group still visited the cave all the time.

A few days after Stein started making progress on Atems problem he seemed to start having a rapid break down. He seemed scared to dual anymore, he was quick to agitation and seemed to have strange lapses in memory. More then once someone found him outside The Death Room as if he were looking for something and he wouldn't remember how he got there. The last time it happened Justin was the one who found him and a fight broke out. Atem was forced to defend himself as thanks to the trademark earphones he knew who he was. That being said Atem was not the first to attack.

The commotion of course brought a crowed and some in the crowed were the friends of Atem. More then once he tried to restrain Justin with his shadow magic. He just became more angry and used Silver Gun to get loose. Maka and the others kept yelling at Justin, but it wouldn't work. They only got nervous when Atems eyes suddenly glazed. He grabbed Justin by the front of his robe and punched him in the face, like Joey had once done to him. Justin stumbled back with a bloody nose and summoned a blade to his wrist.

Atem responded with putting his hands together at his chest and scarlet and black ribbons of shadow magic appeared behind him. It was a bit remonstrant of Madusas Vector Arrow. He also got a sadistic grin on his face.

"I knew it!" shouted Justin

After a strange growling sound the assumed Atem let the shadow ribbons fly! They were extremely hard to dodge and Justin took some damage then fired Silver Gun again. His opponent barely dodged which allowed Justin to land a stomach slice on him with his blade. Atems eyes returned to normal then he screamed, clutching his stomach. It was like a real bodily would to him with power even bleeding from it. He floated in the air like that unable to move.

"Now to finish this demon!" said Justin preparing his last Silver Gun.

"Justin wait!" yelled Maka running forward.

"Maka don't!" yelled Atem

The suddenly: "Dark Magic Attack!" and Justin was plastered into the Death Room door by The Dark Magician.

"Fool! You warned him." said Excalibur He and Stein had arrived just in time to see then end of the fight.

Dark Magician stood over Justin pointing his staff right at the center of his chest: "Don't even breath!"

Suddenly the door opened and Dark Magician almost fired on Lord Death and Spirit. It was only Atems shout of 'Stand down!' in Egyptian that stopped him, though he wouldn't really have blamed him if he had fired as he was very tense.

Maka was trying to help Atem, but she turned and said "Let me explain what happened!"

"No need to explain Maka. We saw the whole thing via Lord Deaths Mirror." said Spirit

"He was already warned about this I assure you, Dark Magician I presume?" said Lord Death

He nodded but didn't say anything.

"This wont happen again." said The Reaper

"See that it doesn't." said the purple clad mage in a cold tone.

Spirit made an annoyed sound, but Lord Death calmed him by saying: "Hes doing his duty to his king. He has no loyalty to us." As they watched the magician head over to the aforementioned.

"This is bad! This is very, very bad!" Atem said to both him and Maka.

"Why? Your energy levels are such that you can recover." Dark Magician said looking confused.

"Not what I meant." Atem was suddenly very aware that Kid and his partners were nearby. Atems other presence went active and wanted to rush them, but Kid the most. "Oh no you don't!" Atem said suddenly, not realizing he'd said it out loud. His whole face crinkled up as his eyes shut for a moment.

Maka jumped and Dark Magician almost did as his eyes burst open after Maka told Dark Magician: "I don't think he was talking to us."

Atem told his guardian something in Royal Egyptian that seemed to upset him.

"Are you sure?" he asked

Atem nodded and told him to go. Which he did. The Pharaoh then floated into a standing position, but kept his hands on his belly: "I need time to recover. I'm going back to my room." True to his word he did, waving at those he knew as he passed. He had to force himself to look away from Kid and the girls. That oddly magnetic aura around Kid had intensified greatly and was now on them as well.

"Team huddle!" said Maka Makas Team and for some reason Excalibur did just that. "I don't know how to describe it, but Atem is somehow damaged and I don't mean his pride either!" She pointed at Black Star as he was about to speak. "His wavelength has gotten weaker, but somehow his power level hasn't. Can anyone make anything of that?"

"I don't think that all the power he has is his own." said Kid "The shadow power he uses during duals and in the fights here and against Black Star is, but the power he has that makes him nearly solid and allows him to feel is not." His tone was dark.

Maka wanted to tell the others where that power may have been coming from, but she was interrupted by Patty shuddering for some reason: "Are you OK?"

"During the fight he looked like he had gone crazy! The look flickered back when he looked at the three of us." she answered

"He got here via The Keshins destruction, maybe hes partly possessed by him or something. We have to help. I don't think anyone deserves that." said Soul in a fighting type voice.

Maka grinned as the others agreed with Soul.

"For once you are not a fool, for you are right." said Excalibur in a subdued voice that made them blink at him. "Lets go talk to Lord Death and the others." That's what they did and of course Crona was included. Justin wasn't welcome in The Death Room by the students, Stein or Excalibur. They made the point to him as when he tried to follow them in Excalibur made him pratfall with his cane, then Stein slammed the door in his face while the students made faces at him. Lord Death and Spirit found it funny.

For the next few days Atem wouldn't leave his room. If someone wanted to see him they had to go to the lab. Even after he seemed to have recovered. During the day he mostly stayed in one place. He was very twitchy and sometimes would strike out at something only he could see. He would snap out of it when someone came to see him. Stein was again reminded of himself when The Keshin was revived.

At night he was a beehive of activity. He wouldn't or couldn't hold still and sometimes looked either in great pain or fear. More then once he looked to be stopping himself from calling out, then he would look angry. Sometimes he would produce a sword or whip made out of shadow magic and looked to be fighting. He also refused to summon any monster spirits even when Stein came dangerously close to ordering him to. All he said was that it wouldn't be a good idea and glared at Stein when he used Soul Perception on him. He stopped rather quickly as he saw what he wanted to see.

"Sorry, but I do suggest that you go to the cave in the AM. Seeing your lady friend might do you some good." said Stein The suggestion calmed Atem a great deal. Stein then left as he needed to talk to Maka. An idea just struck him as he remembered that Maka reminded him of Mana. As he went he thought of what he just saw during his latest Soul Perception: cracks. There were actual cracks in Atems soul. The damage brought on during the fight and a possible trigger for Atems new behavior in Steins theory. When he arrived at Makas and Souls apartment Stein was happy to see that Crona was visiting.

The next day Atem decided to take Steins advice and headed out with the others to the cave. He seemed to be feeling better, though he was avoiding Kid. He even spent some time with Mana. Everything was fine until she screamed for some reason and he got dragged out by the Harpy Lady Sisters. Dark Magician Girl ran to her side as Atem snapped back to normal. He had no idea as to what just happened. Mana was alright, but she was a bit weaker now. Magician Of Faith also helped Mana. Then The Lava and Swamp Battle Guards decided to be, well, guards of her. Atem went back to the city soon after that clearly bothered.

When they went back they couldn't find him. Kid did find Excalibur, but he looked a bit woozy. He was fine though and led Kid right to him via his dark wavelength. Which was a bit hard for Maka to sense but very easy for him.

"I hope it didn't hurt him, hes been quite handy." said Kid thinking out loud. He was also rethinking the splitting up plan they chose. He got about half way into the park before he ran into Lady Of Faith. She told him that he wanted to be alone and that he wasn't quite himself. "I know, but that would be why I want to see him and I asked The Holy Sword to go get the others. Its not safe for him to be alone." said Kid

"Really? But are you sure you can handle what he might throw at you in this bout of possible madness?" said The Lady Of Faith

Kids stomach flipped when he heard the word 'madness', but he kept a stoic expression. "My body is much tougher then most. I will be fine." replied Kid He gave her what he hoped was a reassuring grin before he walked by. He found Atem flopped over on the ground with visible cracks through out his form. "Hes even less symmetrical now then he was when he got here! What could have done that to him? Its the most disturbing thing I've ever seen! The culprit will pay!" Kid then ran over to see if there was something he could do. "Atem get up! I'm going to take you to Dr. Stein!"

The Pharaoh looked at him and shook his head: "You shouldn't have tracked me down. Its dangerous to be near me."

"Why?" asked Kid

"That demon thing- uh The Keshin. Hes- He wants to-"

"We know about him being attached to you-"

"He was attached to Mana too. That's why she was drained when she got here. Every time we went to see her he would attach to me more. He finished when she screamed today. The part in me was first fully triggered when I was in The Death Room. The greater part of him is in there. Hes been building up power this whole time. I was able to keep him in, but then Justin attacked and he broke loose. I knew Stein was trying to come up with a way to help. That's why I've been staying in that sensor room. I knew about it the whole time. Give him more data- didn't want Keshin to spread so I stayed away. He tricked me this morning- thought I had him contained-" Atems eyes got bigger and bigger as it started getting harder for him to talk. "Kid- out of here! Hurry! Before-"

Atems eyes suddenly changed to those of Asuras and he floated up above Kid. "Ah, it seems he guessed my other little project besides getting the rest of my soul back of course." said the voice of Asura that was coming out of the appearance of The Pharaoh.

"Damn, this is bad." Kid thought

"I gave him all that lovely energy so we would be compatible with a certain line haired meister!" said Asura as he then appeared as himself partly through the use of shadow magic, partly from his own will.

"Sometimes I really hate being right!" said Kid as he tried to bolt. Thanks to an unseen shadow coil around his ankle he didn't get far. When The Lady Of Faith heard him scream she bolted back to the cave as were her orders in case something like this happened.

Later Team Maka all met up at the fountain like they planned. Kid was the last to show up. Excalibur was immediately curious: "Fool! We were practically on top of him when I went to gather the others. Where is he?!"

"Hes a hard guy to get close to if he doesn't want anyone close to him-"

"Fool!" Excalibur pointed his cane at him this time. "That is not what I asked. How can you not answer questions at a time like this?!"

"He flew towards the academy alright? He, like myself, loves the view from the most symmetrical building in town." said Kid as he started walking. "We should probably be with our partners this time. It will make it harder for him to get away from us again and we will be prepared if he has another episode like the one during the fight with Justin." Since they were all walking behind him (ignoring protests from Excaliburs to that fact) they didn't see the vile grin that came over his face as they agreed.

Once inside the school they went with their partners and split up again. The assumed Kid, being tailed by Liz and Patty, went immediately to The Death Room: "I can sense that hes inside."

"But why would he go in there? I thought it creep-ed him out." said Liz

"Yeah that is weird." said Patty

"He must not be thinking clearly and if that's so -(unseen vile grin)- why don't you two go weapon form, just in case."

The real Death The Kid, who was bound and trapped in his own mind by shadow magic laced with madness, could see what was going on. Sadly he couldn't do anything about it. "No! Liz! Patty! Don't do it!" he shouted, but they were deaf to him as they did as suggested then were caught in hands that were laced in the same mix that Kid was bound in. As soon as the meister imposter caught them as twin pistols the girls knew that something was very, very wrong. They tried to revert back to human form, but they were trapped like flies in a Venus Flytrap. Then their minds went blank and they were nothing but tools for him to use.

He put the two on his belt and entered The Death Room. Asura was careful not to make to much noise. The Reaper wasn't in the room, he was off for the moment attending to some school related thing, but he could appear in his mirror at anytime so he had to make this quick. He dashed to the left trying to hide himself with the crosses as much as he could. He easily found the cross he was looking for and began shooting at the base of it. It was a bit louder then he thought it would be, but it was fast enough that he had what he was coming for before anyone arrived.

"Kid! What on earth are you doing?!" yelled Marie

Asura looked up and saw her, Stein, Justin, and Lord Death just arrive in his mirror. Kid, the real Kid, started struggling to get loose. It was a no go. Hearing a groan he looked to the side and saw Atem slide into view from the shadows that bound both of them. Like before he was cracked, even his face now.

"Pharaoh! Hey wake up!" Kid nudged him with his hip, all he did was groan again. "I said wake up you a-symmetrical out world-er!" said Kid as he twisted his hand around and tugged on his bangs.

"Ragnarok! Do you want me to flick you into submission again?" said Atem as he came around.

"Its me Kid!"

"What are you doing here?!" he asked

"What do you mean what an I doing here? What are you doing here? We are in my mind here!" said Kid

"Gr! I told you to get away from me, but no! Pikachu knows everything!" said Atem in a feeble attempt to hide his emotions.

"Did you really just say that?!" asked Kid Despite the situation he was trying not to laugh.

"Now you know my hidden "shame". Yugi watched One piece while I was addicted to Pokemon. I still haven't figured that one out." said Atem with the shadow of a grin.

"So who am I possessed by exactly?" Kid asked

"Uh I think it goes I'm possessed by Asura, who is in control of my powers and I'm possessing you against my will which I don't have much of right now anyway." said Atem "Of course there now being three of us in one body that makes it a-symmetrical and that just wont do." He then grunted in some kind of pain or effort.

"Now your starting to get me." said Kid grinning. "But why hasn't he absorbed or destroyed you? And why take a body in the first place let alone mine."

"Hes trying to absorb me, but I'm fighting back. He cant destroy me or no more shadow magic. He took a body because he was very vulnerable to something called Soul Force and yours because-"

Atem was interrupted by Asura: "For your bodies strength and to torment The Reaper." The Keshin then answered Maries question with: "This is just the first thing on my shopping list!" before shooting at the lot of them and exiting through a portal of shadow magic. He could do that because the permission to leave rule didn't apply to shadow magic it being so different a power. It didn't come as that big a shock.

"I cant believe it, he pulled a Kingdom Hearts on us!" shouted Justin "Well technically its in Kingdom Hearts Two, that where the portal trick started." He spoke to himself then noticed all the strange looks he was getting. "Now you know my hidden "shame", I play Kingdom Hearts! Oh please don't hate me Lord Death!" he then said dramatically. Everyone in the room sweat dropped.

"Alright we have to find him and find him fast, but Justin go find Maka. I wouldn't be surprised if she was next on this shopping list of his." said Lord Death

"Right!" his staff said before heading out of the room.

"Not that I'm not glad in a certain way, but why didn't he force you to posses Maka? She was the one who landed the final blow on him after all." Kid asked Atem as they emerged from the shadows and back into the park.

"That is rather simple, -(grunts)- he wants to torment and defeat her. Torment by taking a friend of hers and defeat because he has that odd affection that people have for their rivals, the hateful kind." Atem grunted again and Kid watched a cracks on his face spread. It was plain now that the grunts were in effort of resisting Asuras absorption of him. Kid was impressed.

The Keshin was angered by what Atem had said and whipped around. "I do not!" he yelled in a high pitched voice.

"For the moment we are fused together and that means you cant hide anything from me." said Atem with a condescending grin on his face.

"Shut up! You don't know what your talking about!" Asura shrieked Then he returned his attention to the soul he had just pilfered.

Atems grin broadened as his gaze returned to Kid, who was confused until some of the extended cracks closed more then they had spread.

"That explains a lot." said Kid in a whisper. "Your stronger then you seem."

"Not much, but I'm working at it." Atem whispered

"But he doesn't seem to know."

"I cant hide it from him, but if he doesn't notice its not my problem."

Kid grinned at that and felt a benefit of his own from Asuras obliviousness, his bindings loosened a tiny bit.

The two then flinched as Asura screamed in anger suddenly: "This isn't my soul! This is just some low level wannabe! Damn it! It must have been residual wavelength that I was tracking! It was very freshly moved!"

"Your guys are good!" said Atem as both he and Kid grinned.

Asura turned on them again: "Where is it?!"

"How the hell would I know?!" Kid answered

"Don't look at me! I'm just an a-symmetrical out world-er." said Atem sarcastically.

Kid snorted at the confused look on Asuras face. Kid wouldn't say it but he couldn't believe he just said that.

"Well, its not a total loss. I was getting hungry anyway and this is only the beginning." said Asura grinning wickedly at Kid, who instantly started struggling.

"Don't you dare!" Kid shouted "Ill destroy you myself!"

"Uh, yeah meisters aren't the ones who are supposed to do the eating. That's backwards and would probably mess him up!" Atem gestured with his head at Kid.

"Not only that, but I got two words for you: power boost." Kid pointed at Asura as he said it.

"Ah crap!" Atem started struggling too, but his efforts were less effective then Kids.

"Well down the hatch!" said Asura He then moved to eat the soul he had in his hand when suddenly a kuni knife, a throwing weapon of the ninja, whipped it right out of his hand.

"What the-?" shouted both Asura and Kid while Atem grinned. Asura looked to see The Strike Ninja standing in a tree with his arms crossed.

"Good thing Asura cant speak Royal Egyptian." said Atem grinning.

"So that what that was! A back up plan, brilliant!" said Kid

"I do have my moments." said Atem with a self-satisfied chuckle.

"How could you hide this from me?! Tell me what the plan is!" Asura shrieked

"Well to the hiding, I didn't. You just don't know my ye oldie language. That's not my problem and as to the plan I just told them that they may have to fight you and destroy the both of us if needs be. I didn't tell them how to go about it." said Atem with a smirk. It reminded Kid of Soul right before he and Maka were to use a game changing move. Atem had no idea what his spirit friends were going to do which caused The Keshin to have a complete melt down as he was hit with a huge dose of uncertainty that turned into fear of the unknown. Atem healed at a noticeable pace and Kid could almost taste freedom.

"How did you know?" Kid asked

"Your father filled me in on Asura my first day here in The Death Room. I was confused as to why at first. It turns out he knew about the attachment before I did.-" He was cut off in his explaining by Asura slamming his fist into his belly. He then started to pump Atem full of his madness wavelength. His healing instantly began to reverse.

"You were protected by your shadow magic, but that's mine now!"

Atem struggled but it was happening so fast that he couldn't even scream. Kid became very angry and started screaming and fighting to get loose.

Meanwhile on the outside Kids body was on some kind of strange auto pilot fight with The Strike Ninja and had started to change so as to look like Asura. When the speedy spirit finely took damage and stopped fighting The Death Cannon was activated and trained on him.

The Harpy Lady Sisters saved him. One grabbed him and flew off while the others tackled his would be shooter. The use of shadow magic madness ribbons got him out of their grip. He didn't make it to far as he had to narrowly dodge a double dark magic attack ordered by Mana and of course launched by both the male and female Dark Magician. Though he wasn't hit directly enough of the energy got through to free both captives. Atem landed face down and was out of it as Asura stumbled backwards. He was now worse then when Kid found him.

The Young Reaper landed on his feet via a flip and landed in between Asura and Atem: "Reaper Art: Mortal Sin Stance!" said Kid doing thus with a death glare at Asura. "Keshin! I have decided that being permanently buried in The Death Room is to good for you. Therefore you will now be obliterated!" He ran at him and dodged the shadow magic mixed with madness that was thrown as him. Kid was about to land a round house when Asura calmly caught him.

"Good luck in your attempt." he said just as calmly as Kid jumped in surprise. Kid then got thrown into a wall of shadows that attempted to lock him away. He struggled his way out, but only to about his waist.

"Oh this is really dignified!" said Kid "Where did all that extra power com from suddenly?"

"That's rather simple, I'm draining your weapon partners wavelengths."

Kid gasped: "But they will die if you do that for to long!"

"Say la vi!" said Asura causing Kid to glare again. "Now since this is your body, or was rather, I'm going to let you watch your world come tumbling down." Asura then set his full attention on the battle outside. "Are you sure you want to do this? You know who I have with me right?" Asura said so calmly that it was infuriating.

"We have our orders and they are to destroy you!" said Dark Magician pointing his staff at him.

"Even if it means taking out one of your kings friends -(said with great disgust)- with me and him?" Asura briefly showed them and the other spirits whose body he had taken refuge in.

None of their expressions changed, but they were all thinking the same thing: "Damn!"

The monster spirits nearly jumped when suddenly they heard the shout of "Trap Star!" and Asura was then tied in Tsubakis chain. Black Star then dropped out of a nearby tree. "Hey Power Hungry Mic Dumb-ass! Do you really think that you can stand up against the great and powerful assassin Black Star for a second go around?"

Atems hand twitched at the sound of Black Stars voice. Kid of course noticed, but to keep Asura from the same he face palmed and said "This little idiot is going to get himself killed!" All the monster spirits sweat dropped and thought the same thing.

"As I recall the last time we met both you and your partner laid defeated before me. Not unlike The Young Reaper and his girls." said The Keshin calmly before sending his blended wavelength into Tsubaki causing her to scream in pain and revert to human form briefly. She had just went enchanted sword when Asura began sending scarf like ribbons of shadows in many directions because of the surprise of it some were hit and rendered inactive like The Strike Ninja. The Kuribo Brothers dragged them to safety.

Black Star and the rest of the monster spirits easily got and stayed out of the way even as the former retrieved his weapon partner using Speed Star. Those monster spirits were the dragons, the magicians, Gilford The Lightning and The Celtic Guardian. The Lady Of Faith and The Magician Of Faith were not at the battle as they were evacuating the area and thanks to Black Star being a distraction The Harpy Lady Sisters were gathering reinforcements.

Black Star then initiated Speed Star for the second time and charged Asura: "You call that a shadow attack? Shadow Star!" Asura was then hit by a barrage of shadows that were more tightly compressed and thus more powerful and harder to dodge as they moved faster. It actually caused the Keshin a bit of damage. Then he ducked into the trees with the others.

"Way to go Black Star." grunted Atem barely awake.

"Wow! Pharaoh guy was right!"

"You brat! I'm going to destroy you!" shouted Asura Then he surrounded himself with his mixed wavelength and took to the air. Then he started to fire The Death Cannon into the trees without care.

"We have to get above him or he'll kill us!" Tsubaki told Black Star.

"Yeah I know and we have to to keep him here until the others arrive. I hate to say it but I hope they have a plan." he replied He looked and saw that the mages and Mana were getting height via Curse Of Dragon. Gilford The Lightning used himself as a distraction. So Red Eyes Black Dragon could help Black Star. Suddenly the dragon spotted something and flew off in another direction.

"Black Star, where are you going?!" yelled Mana

"I have no idea!"

Asura didn't notice as he was having a bit of trouble with Gilford The Lightning, who wasn't getting hit but wasn't landing and hits either. He was using lightning from afar which either got blocked or dodged. Asura finely managed to catch him with his ribbons and slam him into the ground. Then he turned The Death Cannon on Curse Of Dragon and he went down. The Dark Magicians went to avenge them while Mana went after the dragon to see if there was something she could do for him. Both mages were just barely caught, but once they were there was no escape.

"You know all this fighting has built up my appetite something fierce!" said Asura grinning.

"No! Don't do it!" Kid shouted

Atem made an effort to get up, but he wasn't fast enough. Dark Magician Girl screamed as Asura quickly absorbed her.

"No!" yelled her male counterpart

"Oh don't worry, you will be joining her soon." said Asura trying to hide the fact that he was a little woozy. His pray saw it quite clearly though and braced himself to attempt to resist when Asura was slammed in the back not only by a powerful shadow attack, but a horn as well. It was strong enough to get Dark Magician nearly throw to the ground and Liz and Patty dropped from his hands.

"I ride the mightiest of all creatures! I ride The Kuribablon!" shouted Black Star before he asked him to dive. (Kuribablon: one form of all five Kuribo Brothers put together) "Yahoo!" He then hung upside down by the creatures horn and used Tsubaki like a whip in her chain scythe form to catch the reverted Liz around the waist as he caught Patty by the ankle with his free hand. They were fine, just passed out.

The lot of them then safely landed on the on the ground near a hurt, but still active Dark Magician: "Nicely done Black Star. You have definitely redeemed yourself for being defeated by The Strike Ninja."

Black Star grinned at him. "One quick question, why dose he look woozy?" asked Black Star

"Good question."

"Fools!" shouted Excalibur "Like me he is not used to such a big power boost so fast. Now, get him down here for me would you? Oh wait you will only be needed as wing-men."

"What dose that mean?" they asked at the same time.

"Fools! Behold my glory!" Excalibur then scrunched up making an odd humming sound. He then spread his arms and his wings of light shot out of his back.

"How?!"

"Me being a creature of light it seems I get a power boost from Atems unleashed darkness. It may help us get through the same, heal him and banish them from Death The Kids body. Like he said 'Opposites meet a feisty reaction makes'. Now Dark Mage temporally fuse with Tsubaki, then Black Star use Soul Resonance with both of them and come with me. We need to blindside Asura quickly." Excalibur then took to the air shouting: "For victory and for glory!" He then slammed right into Asuras belly head first. The Keshin didn't even know what hit him! Excalibur got another three hits on him before Asura spin kicked him and realized what he was being attacked by.

"You! But how?!"

"Fool!" said Excalibur still holding his stomach from the kick.

"You should look behind you!" Black Star had done exactly what Excalibur had said, as he had secretly wanted to try it anyway. Through the power of The Dark Magician in combination with Speed Star he managed to jump the ridiculous distance just above his target. Tsubaki was in enchanted sword mode and because Dark Magician was also there it made her look like a broad sword. Which Black Star used the flat of to slam The Keshin. The loud mouthed meister then caught Excaliburs foot to keep himself from plummeting. "Just like a fly meeting a fly swatter!" said Black Star with a laugh.

"We are not finished yet!" said Excalibur He then scared the ever living out of Black Star as he dove for the ground.

They didn't go all the way to the ground as they heard Crona say: "Ragnarok Scream Resonance!" When Ragnarok screamed the still slightly shaky Asura had to clamp his hands on his ears, taken off guard by Kids sensitive hearing.

On the inside a funny side effect to Dark Magician Girls absorption was kicking in. Kid was able to free himself as The Pharaoh shakily got to his feet. They didn't seem to notice Kid as The Keshin said "I should have absorbed you by now! How can you be standing?!"

"Like bravery did you in last time, friendship will do you in this time! You absorbed a friend of mine, that's why I'm standing!" said Atem He the thought "Wow I sound like Tea." Then he said "Kid demonstrate!" Asura was then tackled by Kid suddenly. Atem then ran to get some distance so it would be harder for Asura to stop him from gaining control, which he barely had the strength to do.

Everyone on the outside knew of the change in control as Asuras appearance suddenly morphed into Atems. "Have to get rid of the shadow barer! Move in fast!" he grunted out. Crona wasn't the only one who was standing before him, there was Maka, Soul, Marie, Stein, and Red Eyes Black Dragon. The last was their transport, hence why he had taken off before. He had seen them coming with The Harpy Lady Sisters and Celtic Guardian. They didn't know how to get passed the shadow magic as all, but Atem sure did. "Excalibur! Lend me your power!" he suddenly shouted, making everyone jump.

"Right away!" Excalibur said before going right at him while going weapon form. Black Star then fell and was caught by The Harpy Lady Sisters. Which made The Celtic Guardian laugh. Atem caught Excalibur perfectly in his outstretched hand like he had always been a meister and started to receive a minor shock because their polar opposite wavelengths.

"I cant hold Asura much longer! You have to use Soul Resonance to have it work in time." Kid shouted at an Atem that was bathed in a slightly sparkling light.

"What is that anyway? No one really told me!" Atem quickly asked.

"From what you told us its not all that different from what you and Yugi used to do. So just do it!"

Atem nodded at Kid before he spoke: "You ready Excalibur?"

"Born that way!" he replied

The Kid suddenly shouted to Atem: "Hurry! Hes loose!"

Yet the two barely heard him as a second later they both shouted: "Lets go Soul Resonance!" and it began! The shadow barer around the three actually became visible to everyone as their Resonance Rate began to climb. Both screamed with effort and Atems weakness off soul started to show as this power up could have been to much for him because of all he went through. Asura reaching for him was the motivation he needed to just push their rate that much more to shatter the barer and be adorned with wings of light. They both screamed with the effort and relief. To Atem it felt like he was free of an enormous pressure.

"Maka, move in now!" shouted Stein

She didn't even hesitate as she thought of what had happened at the very end of her second battle with Crona. Stein and her had spoken of it the night before and figured out what she had done. She just hoped that she could pull it off again and on purpose: The Exorcism Wavelength. She tripped as she was running in because she felt a strange pulse enter her chest. She then felt another presence. It was Mana and she was going to help Maka. Her tripping didn't hinder what happened in the slightest as she and Mana landed and knocked over their target.

A kind of peacefulness filled the air as a glow of white surrounded Maka and Kids forms as Atems appearance faded away. He was grinning though and so was Mana. Then there was a blur of motion as the fragments of Asura and the now assumed one soul-ed Atem were expelled from Kids body.

"Marie now!" said Stein The two quickly moved in. Marie made for Atem and Stein made for Asura. "Soul Force!" he shouted as he slammed Asura as weightless as he was he flew back wards, now sporting some cracks of his own. Before he could make a move he was trapped in Blairs pumpkin cage. She sat on top of it giggling. Meanwhile Marie got to Atem and used her Healing Wavelength on him which was working, but she got a confused look on her face. "Whats wrong Marie?" asked Stein

"I can sense two of them." she answered

"Wait for it." said both Mana and Maka as they were now defused. Everyone jumped as Atem suddenly looked and sounded like he was straining.

"Whats he going to do? Lay an egg?" asked Black Star

The Harpy Lady Sister glared at him. He rubbed the back of his head.

"Keep up the healing, it may help." said Stein just as confused as the rest of them. Suddenly Dark Magician Girl ripped out of his back like the two were doing osmosis. Everyone stared at them.

"Ta-DA! See I can work magic too!" said Atem grinning. Excalibur started to clap for him, the others joined in awkwardly. Atem chuckled at that. "So wheres the rest of Asuras soul anyway?" asked Atem

"Right here with me." said Lord Death seeming to appear out of nowhere holding a funny looking jar with said item in it. "I kept moving so he wouldn't track it down to fast. I knew you all could handle him."

"How did-? Where did he-?" said Atem pointing at him.

"Yeah its best not to question him either." said Stein grinning.

"Clearly." said Atem blinking.

"Alright then, I made this guy a promise didn't I? I told him that I would obliterate him. Now how should I go about it?" said Kid glaring at the bit of The Keshin that was being held by Blair.

Atem just kind of floated there thinking: "Hey obliterate is my word."

"I have a way! Have you ever heard of The Blue Eyes Shining Dragon?" asked Excalibur

"Atem told us about her." said the students

Atem face palmed: "OK where is she and how long has she been here?"

"In a hidden chamber of my cave system and the whole time. I kept quite about her because of him. -(points at Keshin with cane)- All you have to do is tell her to use Shining Nova and she will destroy Asura thus opening the way to The Dual Monsters Spirit World A.K.A. The Dominion Of The Beasts." explained The Holy Sword "Course in the card game it destroys itself plus any thing else the card holder wants."

"How dose he know that?! Can anyone tell me?!" said Atem

"Nope!" said everyone

"Anyway how are Mana and Atem going to get back to their spirit world?" asked Blair Everyone turned and looked at Lord Death.

"That's easy, all I have to do is tweak my mirror in The Death Room a little and they can walk right on through." he answered giving a giant thumbs up.

"That's it?" asked Soul

"Yes Why?" asked The Reaper

"I was just expecting something more dramatic then that." he replied with a shrug.

Everyone grinned at that.

"But he cannot leave yet. We still has to see if he can match me in The Five Hour Story Telling Party." said Excalibur

Everyone made that face and groaned.

Atem tried not to laugh and said "And no one has beaten me in a dual yet."

Everyone grinned again.

"At this rate we are never going to get rid of you." said The Reaper jokingly.

"A man can dream cant he?" Atem replied grinning.

Lord Death chuckled at that as they went in search of the hurt dual spirits so Marie could heal them. After that Atem called Blue Eyes Shining Dragon to help them home, though it was Kid who did the honors after the girls who were his partners woke up as Asuras soul was destroyed. An interesting side effect that not even The Holy Sword saw coming was that now the monster spirits could come and go just like they could during the Dartz fiasco.

"Now that I've seen it, it makes sense." said Stein when they were dauling in the park regarding the event a few days later with Atem and Mana.

"That's your way of saying 'we should have seen that coming! Isn't it?" asked Atem They were watching a two on two match: Female Death Scythes vs Male Death Scythes. The winning team was going to go against The Reapers Junior and Senior.

"Pretty much." said Stein grinning.

"So how did that story telling contest turn out?" asked Crona

Atem flicked Ragnarok in the head as he answered: "I matched him perfectly. Hes a bit sore at me for it too." He gave an amused shrug. "When I started the room was packed and stayed that way the entire time. Well aside from bathroom breaks. Then it was Excaliburs turn and by the end I was the only one left in the room but Mana and she had fallen asleep or our version of anyway." No one was overly surprised by that.

Since the match they were watching was taking a long time Tsubaki suggested that Lord Death have a practice match against Atem who agreed thinking he was going to get an easy win. However everyone was shocked by the out come: "I cant believe I just got defeated by The Grim Reaper!" said Atem after getting beaten in just five turns. "Although I do appreciate the irony." Atem then said thoughtfully.

"Not to mention the poetic justice of it." said Kid grinning.

"Ha! Ha! Excaliburs not the only one with some mystery knowledge!" said Lord Death as Excalibur went into his trademark pose behind him.

"But how-?" Atem then stopped himself and thought grinning with closed eyes: "Its Lord Death, don't question it." in a somewhat amused way.

 **The End**

~ _Authors Note_ _: Well I hope you enjoyed this completely different from my normal stuff story. I actually wrote this as a gift to a Soul Eater/Yu-Gi-Oh (original series) fan for Christmas. Despite being a speed reader he not a fan of reading and never read the freaking story which really annoys me to be honest. So with some help from my friend Briiney d.k, the summery being based off of one she sent me when asked after typing it up, here it is. Comment if you like just no being mean. Also I don't own either show._ ~


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